NASA to Launch Univ. of New Hampshire Space Experiment From Norway

NASA will launch an experiment led by researchers at the University of New Hampshire, Durham, from Norway between November 28 and December 12. The experiment will fly on a Black Brant XII sounding rocket from the Andoya Rocket Range, Andenes.

Dr. Marc Lessard from the University of New Hampshire is the principal investigator for the experiment called RENU, for Rocket Experiment for Neutral Upwelling, which will study the interaction of the solar wind with Earth’s atmosphere.

Dr. Lessard said, “We are trying to figure out if these upwelling plumes of atomic oxygen are connected to the Auroras, the result of the interaction of solar wind with Earth’s neutral atmosphere.”

The Black Brant XII vehicle is a four-stage, solid propellant, unguided, rail-launched, sounding rocket. It will reach an altitude of approximately 310 miles, 7 minutes into the flight. Also involved in this scientific collaboration are researchers from Dartmouth College, Hanover, N.H.; Cornell University Ithaca, N.Y.; Aerospace Corporation, El Segundo, Calif.; Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, Colo.; University of Maryland College Park, Md.; and NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.

Information on the NASA Sounding Rocket Program is available on the Internet at: http://sites.wff.nasa.gov/code810 Information on the RENU experiment is available on the Internet at: http://mirl.sr.unh.edu/projects_renu/projects_renu.html